FUNCK, JOHANN: Lutheran divine; b. at Wöhrd (a suburb of Nuremberg), Germany, Feb. 7, 1518;
beheaded at Königsberg Oct. 28, 1566. After obtaining the master's degree at Wittenberg, and after
preaching in several places, he was recommended to Duke Albert of Prussia by Veit Dietrich, and
accordingly went to Königsberg in 1547, where the duke was so pleased with the young clergyman that
he made him his court preacher (1549). On the outbreak of the Osiandrian controversy, Funck sided
with Osiander and his son-in-law Andreas Aurifaber (q.v.), physician in ordinary to the duke; when
Osiander died (Oct. 17, 1552), Funck delivered the eulogy. Joachim Mörlin (q.v.), his principal
opponent, was obliged to leave Prussia in 1553, and Funck was then considered the dominant
theological representative of Osiander's teaching. Duke John Albert of Mecklenburg, the Lutheran son-in-law of Duke Albert of Prussia, long tried to influence his father-in-law against his protégé, and Funck
was obliged to retract certain “heresies” at a synod held at Riesenburg in 1556 and to promise to abide
by the Augsburg Confession and the Loci of Melanchthon. The duke still showed him great favor,
however, but after his marriage to Osiander's daughter, the widow of Aurifaber, who died Dec. 12, 1559,
the wrath of Osiander's opponents now turned upon Funck, who was both the confessor and counselor of
the duke and treasurer of the duchess. The dissension was increased by alien adventurers like Paul
Skalich, who took advantage of the senile duke, while councilors belonging to the highest nobility were
pushed aside. The estates, feeling that their rights were infringed, appealed to the suzerain of the
country, King Sigismund II. of Poland, who sent a commission in Aug., 1566, to Königsberg to
investigate the matter. Funck, together with the councilors Horst, Schell, and Steinbach, was charged
with opposition to the ecclesiastical and political governance of the state, and the Polish commission
directed that the case be tried by the court in the Kneiphof, Königsberg, thus putting the accused at the
mercy of their enemies. While it was true that Funck's position rendered him partly liable for the
measures of the duke, Albert gave the final decision and was, therefore, personally responsible. Little
value can be attached to the confession extorted from the prisoner by threats of torture, and there is,
therefore, no tangible evidence of guilt. Nevertheless, Funck, Horst, and Schnell were condemned and
executed in the Kneiphof market-place at Königsberg; Steinbach had to leave the country; and Paul
Skalich, the real cause of the mischief, had the good fortune to escape The works of Funck are as
follows: Chronologia ab urbe condita (2 vols., Königsberg, 1545-52); expositions of Psalms xlvi.
(1548), ciii. (1549), and ix. (1551); Auszug und kurzer Bericht von der Gerechtigkeit der Christen für
Gott (1552); Wahrhaftiger und gründlicher Bericht wie und was Gestalt die ärgerliche Spaltung von der
Gerechtigkeit des Glaubens sich anfänglich im Lande Preussen erhoben (1553); Der Patriarchen Lehre
und Glauben (1554); Vier Predigten von der Rechtfertigung des Sünders durch den Glauben für Gott.
Item : Kurtze Bekenntnis (1563).